Thought For The Day

    I know the 50^th anniversary of the screening of ‘the Prisoner’ in Britain is coming up next year, and that is very much on the mind of enthusiasts for the series. This month I’ve had the production of the series much on my mind. The location filming at Portmeirion will have taken place by the end of the month, but a second film unit would be returning there in March 1967 to carry out further filming, with Frank Maher, Patrick McGoohan’s stunt double, mainly as Number 6. Meanwhile filming continued at MGM film studios at Elstree, creating huge interior and exterior sets, and huge painted backdrops of Portmeirion, which will be convincing enough at the time, and yet the atmosphere there will be very different from what it was elsewhere!
    And it must not be forgotten that ‘Arrival’ received its World premier at the Coliseum cinema in Porthmadog organized by Clough Williams-Ellis,  the very first preview of the episode. Clough sent out invitations to all his friends and important dignitaries, High Sheriffs, even the Chief Constable of Caernarfon, and Director/Producer David Tomblin also attended. Clough had sent for a 35mm print of the film, which was the only print in existence at that time, so extreme care had to be taken of it, being the only copy. The preview took place on a Sunday evening, even though the cinema had no license for seven days, and they were not allowed to show films on a Sunday. But the event went ahead anyway, and was a great success, and that was the first screening of ‘the Prisoner’ anywhere, a world premier in fact at the Coliseum cinema in Porthmadog albeit it a silent one!
    Actors and actresses would come and go, some only having worked on an episode for one day or perhaps two or three at most, and some not even working together. For example Peter Howell and Betty McDowell never worked together in ‘The General,’ they never once appear in a scene together. Sad to say, but for others working on ‘the Prisoner’ was perhaps the last acting role of their lives, all of whom had had wonderful acting careers having appeared on stage, screen, and television.
    50 years of my life have been spent appreciating ‘the Prisoner,’ there are those who would say get a life, well that’s a bit late now, at my age. And I’m far from alone, there are hundreds and hundreds of people of my generation who are still enthusiastic for ‘the Prisoner,’ it might be that we’re showing our age a little bit. Mind you the jacket of my suit, just like the one Patrick McGoohan wore in ‘The Prisoner,’ fits me perfectly just as it did in the mid 1990’s when I wore it to Prisoner Conventions. Though the trousers wore out years ago!
    As September draws on so does the end of the location filming for ‘the Prisoner’ at Portmeirion, the final day of filming was on the 30^th, when Patrick McGoohan directed a number of scenes for ‘The Arrival’ as it was called then. One being the Prisoner’s restructured first encounter with the Guardian on the beach. Meanwhile the second film unit was picking up on shots in the woods and for the beach chase scene. However yesterday September 16^th was the main film day for the Alouette helicopter, which covered Number 2 {Bill Tailor doubling for Guy Doleman} and Number 6 stepping out of the helicopter. The main scene filmed that day was Number 6’s attempted escape by jet boat, chased by Number 2 piloting the helicopter, and Number 6’s second encounter with the Guardian.

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